Choosing a Custom CMS vs. Drupal: Finding the Best Option to Manage Your Website

p>A content management system (or CMS) is the web application you'll use to completely manage your website. From the design phase on to maintenance, which CMS you choose matters based on what type of business you have and what the purpose is behind your marketing.

It usually comes down to choosing a custom CMS vs. an open-source platform, like Drupal. In the latter case, you have an open-source CMS that some find more suitable. The reason is these applications get made by volunteers in respectable online design communities. Even better, open-source is free to use and quite flexible for development ideas.

This doesn't necessarily mean it's right for your website. Custom CMS applications bring enhanced benefits because you can tailor them to fit your specific business needs. If you're struggling to differentiate yourself from all of your competitors, a custom CMS is perhaps better for you.

But how do you really know? Here are some comparisons to give you a better idea of whether a custom solution or open-source Drupal would work the best.

Why Open-Source CMS Appeals to Many

There are additional reasons why an open-source CMS often gets chosen by businesses as their website management application. Drupal is just one of several open-source choices that have been around for a while and stay continually popular. WordPress is the most popular of all, though recent statistics show Drupal continuing to rise in usage.

As mentioned above, open-source software is generally free and developed by an extensive list of volunteers with varied expertise. They usually create premium templates and other tools to give you plenty to work with for design and basic management.

Open-source's flexibility is good for very basic web designs and apps. With so many creative uses, you can see why those who can't afford an in-house development team turn to applications like Drupal.

Despite the advantages, what makes Drupal so appealing next to WordPress?

Drupal's Advantages

The immediate benefit in using Drupal is you won't have any costs as you would with a custom CMS solution. Still, Drupal has a lot going for it, with some features being better than WordPress. With the former, you get far more customized options than any other open-source application currently available.

Another advantage is Drupal eliminates any third-party plug-ins potentially slowing down site load times. When you need a fast website for your business, it's quite the difference compared to WordPress where plug-ins are common.

With large-scale content management capability, Drupal works well at an enterprise level. Plus, with the White House using the application for their website, you can plainly see the latter has more reliable security next to others.

Custom CMS Advantages

Open-source CMS does have limitations as you might expect. You have to adhere to their rules and can't do custom designs you may need to stand out from the herd. A custom CMS allows you the freedom to do whatever you want with design and development, and in a timely manner.

As a business, the decision is no doubt challenging, yet you may need a custom CMS option due to extreme competition. Going with this choice, you dictate all functionality and capabilities, which are virtually limitless.

Many designers prefer custom CMS because it can alter features that aren't necessary for a business. As a result, it simplifies coding and helps bring a faster website for your company.

Plus, custom options are less likely to get hacked, unlike Drupal and WordPress. The reason the latter two get hacked so much is because of their popularity and easy public access to their codes. Going with a custom option, you can keep your code secret and not have it freely available online to exploit for vulnerabilities.

The reasons to choose a custom CMS over a popular open-source one are countless. Think about your business and your brand and how you would like to portray it to your visitors. No one knows your business better than you, so why not have the ability to make changes as you grow without jumping through hoops.